.
. . another federal memo, stating that
besides Houston and Dallas, the same thing
has happened at sites in New York,
Florida, and six other states, and even
more worrisome, at 36 sensitive Department
of Defense sites.

11
News

Houston, October 1, 2001

Federal
Buildings Could Be In Jeopardy - In Houston and
Nationally

Government
guards have found so-called students trying to get
into secure buildings

By Anna WernerInvestigative Reporter

HOUSTON (KHOU) - Could federal
buildings in Houston and other cities be under
surveillance by foreign groups? That's what some
experts are asking after federal law enforcement
and security officials - nationally and in Houston
- described for the 11 News Defenders a curious
pattern of behavior by a group of people claiming
to be Israeli art students.

They've shown up at the Houston headquarters of
the Drug Enforcement Administration, at the Leland
federal building downtown, and even the federal
prosecutor's office.

Who are they? They're described as Middle
Eastern men and women who claim to be Israeli art
students, carrying portfolios filled with artwork
they say they want to sell. But government guards
have found those so-called students trying to get
into these secure buildings in ways they're not
supposed to -- through backdoors and parking
garages. And that they appear to be monitoring the
buildings. Even stranger, sources say, the
"students" have even shown up at the homes of
federal employees.

And the federal government appears concerned.
The 11 News Defenders obtained an e-mail sent by an
official with the Federal Protective Services, the
agency that guards federal buildings. The e-mail
says federal sites have "experienced an inundation
of art solicitations at office buildings by
students claiming to be selling Israeli art," that
it turned out to be nationwide, and that it had
happened again a couple of weeks ago in Atlanta,
Georgia.

No one in the federal government would talk with
us on camera, so we asked our own expert, 11 News
military and terrorism analyst Ron Hatchett,
for his take on the scenario described above. "What
comes to my mind right away is that this is an
obvious surveillance," says Hatchett. "This is not
a bunch of kids selling artwork."

Hatchett says they
could be doing what he would be doing if he were
a terrorist -- sizing up the situation:
"We need to know what are the entrances to this
particular building. We need to know what are
the surveillance cameras that are operating. We
need to know how many guards are at this
operation, when do they take breaks?"

A former Defense Department analyst, Hatchett
believes groups may be gathering intelligence for
possible future attacks. "Some organization,
thinking in terms of a potential retaliation
against the U.S. government [could be]
scouting out potential targets and looking
for targets that would be vulnerable."

And a source tells the Defenders of another
federal memo, stating that besides Houston and
Dallas, the same thing has happened at sites in New
York, Florida, and six other states, and even more
worrisome, at 36 sensitive Department of Defense
sites.

"One defense site you can explain," says
Hatchett, "well that was just a serendipitous, they
went to that building. Thirty-six? That's a
pattern."

That memo also reportedly tells of 25 to 30
arrests, usually made on immigration fraud charges.
Why? Because many of these so-called Israelis have
phony passports and visas. The memo concludes these
students "may have ties" to an "Islamic
fundamentalist group."

How long has this been going on? The Defenders
discovered this report from the International
Association for Counter-terrorism and Security
Professionals, written in May 2000j. It, too, says
U.S. law enforcement reports "numerous encounters"
with Middle Eastern "art students" with "fraudulent
documents" who attempted to "gain unauthorized
access" to federal buildings.

A spokesman at the Immigration and
Naturalization Service in Washington, D.C., told 11
News that these cases have been the subject of INS
investigations and resulted in "activity," but
could not confirm what the results of those
investigations were.

So far, no one has said if these "students" or
groups are connected to any terrorist
groups.

If you have any information on this
story, call our 11 News Defenders Investigative
hotline. It's toll-free: 1-877-367-KHOU. Or
e-mail awerner@khou.com